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URGENT - Support the Prisoners Hunger Strike! 9-27-11

Discussion at Revolution Books Tuesday September 27 at 7 pm

Hunger Strike resumes —Support the Just Demands of the Pelican Bay Prisoners
(Who are the REAL criminals?)

Representatives of prisoners who went on a 20-day hunger strike in July at the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison in California, declare that the prisoners will resume their hunger strike on September 26. It is urgent that people support the prisoners & speak out against prison authorities' attempts to retaliate against the prisoners. People on the outside have the moral responsibility to act in a way commensurate with the justness of the prisoners’ demands and the urgency of the situation. What people on the outside do will be a big factor in what happens when the prisoners resume the hunger strike.

Wed, Oct 5th, 12 noon-2pm
Protest outside CDCR Headquarters. 1515 S St, downtown Sacramento. For carpooling and transportation needs from the Bay Area, please contact: 415.238.1801 or prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity@ gmail.com
The prisoners are demanding to be treated like human beings, that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) end their barbaric, inhumane conditions of imprisonment, particularly in the SHUs, including solitary confinement, which is a form of torture.

The CDCR is not only refusing to meet the prisoners’ demands—it is retaliating against those who participated in the strike and mounting a public relations campaign to defend the barbaric conditions in the SHU. CDCR officials have indicated in statements to the media that they won’t allow the kind of mass defiance and solidarity exhibited by hunger strikers at Pelican Bay to happen again.

Come to a discussion with Revolution reporters. Read articles from Revolution here. Some points for discussion:

* who are the real criminals – someone who robs or brutalizes an individual – or a ruling class that robs and brutalizes whole countries, whole peoples, and who maintains a whole system of torture here and globally?

* people say the masses have to take responsibility and get out of the criminal life – yet when they do, like the prisoners have, and acted selflessly for others, and risked their own lives in a NON-VIOLENT struggle – then the system attacks them for doing this! So the system doesn’t want them to change and more importantly wants to crush an example of people lifting their heads and acting in new ways.

* this relates to the point - the deep exposure - what kind of system spends more to incarcerate people than to educate and enlighten them - NOT a system interested in peoples transforming themselves

* why did these youth have the “choices” that they were confronted with – to hurt someone to maintain their own self respect? To rob someone or starve themselves? Why were these the choices they were given in life? What system gave them those choices? No matter what people have done, they’re human beings and deserve dignity and respect – it is wrong to distance yourself from them, and to accept the system’s verdict that they’re animals and anything goes — this is Nazi and genocidal ideology and it’s being promoted daily by this system.

***

Support
the hunger strike and the demands of the prisoners:

Widely
distribute Revolution newspaper, on
the street, in schools, among all sections of the people. Post
articles from the paper online including on social media such as
Facebook.

Stay
tuned to Hunger Strike Coalition
website(prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com)
for updates on the strike and mobilizations in support of the
prisoners. Wherever you are, organize demonstrations or press
conferences, including outside prisons, in support of the prisoners.

Ex-prisoners
and family members: Come
together, form networks of support for the hunger strike, speak out.

Students
and professors: Make
the strike a major issue on the campus—everyone needs
to know about this. Reach out to those studying and working on issues
of mass incarceration, prison conditions, criminal justice, police
brutality, racism and national oppression—encourage them to take
this up. Organize and demonstrate in support of the strikers.

Many
more statements of support for
the hunger strike, including prominent people and academics, are
urgently needed. Send to Revolution newspaper
at rcppubs@hotmail.com or submit a comment at revcom.us.

Many
more religious forces, including
those who have spoken out against torture, need to be mobilized to
speak out and oppose the conditions in the SHU.

More
human and legal rights organizations need
to get involved in this issue and struggle. It is unconscionable to
stand aside from blatant torture going on within the U.S. while
condemning other regimes around the world.

CDCR
must give journalists full access to
the prisons and the prisoners, including hunger strikers—in order
to report the truth about the conditions in the SHUs and the prisons,
and so the voices of the prisoners can be heard. Students,
photographers, and journalists: contribute toRevolution’s
coverage—sharing photos, research, suggestions and correspondence.